That has opened up enormously, partly because of the increase in independent travel. You just need to know roughly what you are doing and spend a bit of time on-screen. You also need to be aware that consumer protection conferred by booking a package is considerable, while for DIY holidays it is minimal.Finally, the range of places. I suspect in the end the package works out a bit cheaper but independence is now a real alternative.

You can with luck find flights and rooms at the same price as the tour companies can buy them. But you save hassle with a package, and the operators have worked hard to customise their approach to attract the higher end of the market. Because skiing needs a fair bit of organisation, the tour operators have long had a big advantage over the independent traveller Now the costs are finely balanced. These have transformed the whole travel world, but the impact on ski-choice has been particularly strong.

There is nothing more miserable than arriving to find no snow, half the lifts shut and then a huge snowfall to arrive on the day you are trying to leave.Next, budget airlines and the internet. If, for whatever reason, you have to ski early in the season, then it really is important to follow the snow. For most of us it is better to have great snow and a less-than-wonderful place to stay, than a hotel with hot-and-cold-running-everything but to be obliged to ski on frozen porridge.Paradoxically, the earlier in the season you plan to ski, the later you should leave the decision of where to go. If you book late, you may not get as good a deal on the hotel but you can always get in somewhere.

There also seems to be a larger variance between the east and west Alps, though the data is unclear.So what do you do? The response of the ski resorts has been to put a huge amount of investment into artificial snow. But that only works if the weather is cold enough; and while it is useful to have a snow-cannoned road back to the village, it rather undermines the purpose of the exercise, which is to enjoy the real thing.I think the best answer is to be flexible both with time (if you can) and destination. Meanwhile, up in Canada, Whistler, the largest resort in North America, usually had excellent snow until last season, which was a disaster.Here in Europe the main feature of the Alps seems to be that the big snowfalls come later. You used to be safe in early January but now that is no longer so. On the other hand, a late holiday around Easter seems to be a rather less risky proposition.

While last season was great, the Rockies had had a couple of years of low snowfall before. But the rule-of-thumb used to be that North America had the most reliable snow; and while the Alps had good and not-so-good seasons, if you went high enough you would be all right.Now, whatever view you take of the causes of climate change, it does seem clear that weather patterns have become much less predictable North America is less reliable. I have not seen all the scientific data, and the experts don’t agree among themselves. There is not much doubt that weather patterns have changed in recent years. And package makes it simpler but less interesting.But in the last few years the balance between these choices has been subtly changed by three things: weather, the combination of budget airlines and the internet, and the opening up of new areas around the world – or at least new to British skiers.Weather first. High or low? Early or late? Established or new? Fashionable or unknown? Package or independent?There used to be a traditional response to those questions High gives better snow but nastier purpose-built villages Early gives fewer people but less sun Established means everything works but also bigger crowds Fashionable means higher prices but more buzz.